Better late than never – My Weekend in Ocean View!

The time has finally come!  I’ve been meaning to write this post for so long.  It’s been two (almost three!) weeks now since I stayed in Ocean View with my host parents, Arthur and Debbie, and there is so much to write about from those three days.  The reason I’ve waited so long is because it really was an incredible weekend and I wanted to devote enough time to this post as it deserves.  It’s not something that should be rushed and I’ve been pretty busy this past week studying for my Geology exam and writing a History paper.  I have one more class at 4 today then it's officially spring break!  It's going by wayyyy too fast which is actually a bit upsetting.  I never thought I'd be at a place where I'm not ready to go on spring break by the time it arrives.  Regardless, I'm really getting excited for my trip to Botswana and Zimbabwe.

Where do I even begin?!  I’ll start at the veeeeery beginning.  As in before we even left.  Basically on Monday we were told that we would be going on the homestay that coming Friday.  Obviously, if you didn’t want to go you didn’t have to, but it was highly encouraged for us to go.  I was definitely going – I mean, I’m here in South Africa to learn about and understand this country and here I am going to what is pretty much the best university in the country.  I’d say that’s a pretty skewed view of South Africa as a whole.  Not that I’m complaining!  I love UCT and everything about it!  But it can’t hurt to also spend time in places other than Rondebosch (the suburb where I live).

We had a meeting on Wednesday before leaving going over the basics of what we should expect for the weekend.  As per usual, it was semi vague.  I’ve found that Americans really expect exact answers when events are planned.  Ambiguity is not particularly appreciated.  I’ve also found that things in South Africa are, as the South Africans would say, pretty chilled.  Meaning there’s a go-with-the-flow mentality and there’s enough planning so that there’s not a huge mess up, but not enough to answer the questions we would typically expect.

I pretty much went into the weekend knowing the following information:

We’ll be staying with a family who lives in Ocean View.  This is the same township we visited where we heard the children’s band about a month and a half ago.  Ocean View came about after the forced removals in the 60s.  Most of the residents here moved from an area called Simon’s Town and moved their homes and families here.  Since then, it has become a colored community housing thousands of families.  Almost all of the houses or apartments are made of brick.  Today the community faces the issues of teenage pregnancy, high school dropout, alcohol abuse, meth (called tik), and there is also a large Rastafarian community nearby.  Honestly, I’d say we have our fair share of these issues back in the US as well.  Granted that everything is on a different scale, to a different extent, and with a different context, I was actually surprised before going on this trip to hear so many similarities to issues back in the US.  As bad as this sounds, I expected them to list off all these crazy issues and challenges and just be overwhelmed to think that this is where I’d be staying for the weekend.  In actuality, these are challenges that are quite relevant in the US (although I can’t say I’ve been directly exposed to them I know I don’t represent the majority of the country).  When taken at face value (meaning when you don’t know the politics and such behind the issues) they’re virtually the same things that cause problems in the US.  So that was an interesting realization/expectation to have going into the weekend.

As far as other information we were given, we were basically told to show up at a bus on Friday at 6pm and we’d be back on Sunday around 3pm.  There were possibilities we might be going to church or the beach so pack accordingly.  We did not need to bring bedding or towels, but we were responsible for bringing a gift for our family.  We were advised not to bring wine because there are a handful of Muslim families participating in the homestays.  I decided to bake brownies for my family.  I wish I had planned when I was home so I could have brought them something from home!

On Friday we were packed into two big busses and taken from UCT to Ocean View, about a 45 minutes drive away.  As I experienced the last time we were there, we were warmly welcomed.  All 70 students and their families went to the multipurpose center where we were fed a great meal and watched a few performances from the locals.  The performances were pretty similar to the last ones we saw.  We saw the children’s band, some singers, and a few dance performances.  I briefly met my host parents Arthur and Debbie, but it was a bit hectic so I didn’t get to talk to them very much.  I also met the other exchange student, Caroline, who would be staying with me.  I actually live right next door to her in Rondebosch so it was fun to get to know someone I wouldn’t have gotten to know otherwise!

We were the first family to leave after the presentation.  I was totally fine with that though because I was excited to get settled in and meet my parents!  We got in their car and drove about five minutes away to their home.  At this point it was probably about 9:30 and Caroline were pretty tired from the busy week we had had, but ready to get to know our parents better and learn about their lives in Ocean View.

Our family consisted of a mother and father named Arthur and Debbie.  They were both in their mid-50s and their two daughters had moved out of the house so it was just them.  A cousin lived in a house in the back and we got to spend some time with him as well.  His name is Grant and he is probably in his 20s or 30s.  Initially I was a little bummed about this because I thought it would be fun to have kids in the family!  Looking back on my experience, I think I got even more out of being able to have “adult” conversations with my family.  I also really enjoyed the laid back, slower pace of the weekend.

Their house was on a bustling street.  There were tons of people out and about at such a “late” hour on Friday, but it was lively and exciting.  We dropped our backpacks off in our room upstairs then went downstairs to sit with Debbie and Arthur in the living room.  Arthur was watching a channel with tons of “top hit” music videos and Debbie immediately came in offering Caroline and I a “premium vodka flavored drink” called Purple Ice Red Square.  She said this is her daughter’s favorite drink and was very excited for us to have it too.  Neither Arthur nor Debbie drink anymore.  I didn’t pry into reasons why, but Arthur did mention something about him potentially having or developing diabetes while him and I were talking about alcohol so the two might be related.  Or maybe not.

As Caroline and I enjoyed our purple drank (quite literally), we sat and talked downstairs.  Initially I thought Arthur was really quiet and reserved when we were in the gymnasium, but after talking to him for a bit at home I came to the conclusion that he is more reserved in big social settings than in intimate settings where he really opens up.  In fact, Arthur is quite opinionated!

I was a bit shocked within the first hour as he told us how South Africa is getting “worse” and will never improve.  He was referring mostly to the corruption in the government and the leaders who were in power for being responsible for South Africa not improving much.  Personally, I still think there is hope of things improving in this country.  While I don’t live here and don’t understand things like Arthur and Debbie do, I do still think things can be improved with the right leadership.  The current president, Jacob Zuma, does not seem to be liked by many people at all.  Granted, I have not gone around asking people all over the spectrum, but I have yet to hear one positive thing about him since I’ve been here.  I’m curious to hear what the black community thinks of him because I’ve really only heard directly from whites, coloreds, and blacks at UCT.

We talked a lot about politics over the weekend (Can you actually imagine me being totally engaged and excited in politics?  I think it’s because I don’t yet understand it enough to be frustrated by it like I am at home).  I’ve been asking a lot of people about politics since my homestay.  In fact, I went out to a bar with friends one night after we got back and ended up talking to two guys about politics here for about an hour.  One of the guys supported the DA (Democratic Alliance) and the other supported the ANC (African National Congress).  Both were white men probably about the same age so it was fascinating to hear things from both sides of the political spectrum.  After a certain point, my friends decided to go somewhere else so we exchanged numbers and said we’d continue the conversation at some point in the future.  I’ve been in touch with one of the guys once since then, but I want to make sure if we meet up again I can bring another friend with me and it’s something casual like lunch.  I don’t want it to be misconstrued as a date either.  I really just want to learn more about what politics are like here!  We’ll see if anything comes from that.  Right now I'm sensing it might blow over.

Back to my story.  We spent the night sitting and talking.  At about 11:30 we drove over to Arthur and Debbie’s friends’ house who were hosting two guys from our program.  One of them goes to GW so I got to hang out and talk with him a bit.  The family that lived there consisted of a mother and father who lived with their three grandchildren.  The father was the priest at one of the community churches.  It was nice to meet them and talk with them, but by about 12:30 Caroline and I were ready for bed.

The next morning we leisurely got up and got dressed and ready for the day.  We had plans to drive to Hout Bay and braai in the afternoon.  The drive to the bay took about 20 minutes and was a beautiful scenic drive along the coast.  At Hout Bay, we walked around and looked at the boats and markets set up there.  Not gonna lie, it smelled prrreeettyyyy gross (or siff as the South Africans would say).  It smelled really fishy and salty, but not exactly in a fresh way.  Regardless, it was a really nice way to spend the morning.  After our Hout Bay excursion, we walked around on another local beach where unfortunately, we could not find any mussels.  (Debbie was really excited to show us mussels but the tide was too high so that was a bummer).

We had a nice tuna salad for lunch at home, then all went to our respective rooms for an afternoon nap.  Caroline and I were exhausted, which we realized once we woke up at 5:30.  By this time it was braai time!  Debbie was always so incredibly hospitable and no matter how much we offered, never allowed us to lift a finger to help her in the kitchen.  She prepared the meat as Arthur got the braai ready.

At this point, Grant, the family member who lived in the back house, had joined us inside and was happily offering us lots and lots of my favorite beer, Black Label.  The drinking culture in the colored community is actually quite interesting.  Both Arthur and Debbie kept making comments about how Caroline and I don’t drink very much throughout the weekend.  It wasn’t said negatively or positively, but they continued to notice and point it out.  Drinking in the colored community is huge.  Arthur told me how it’s expected that if you buy a case of some type of alcohol, you wouldn’t leave until it’s finished.  I guess that mentality can be comparable in some instances to the culture of a fraternity on occassion, but other than that, it’s not something I’ve ever experienced at home/in the US.  We had been made aware of the heavy drinking that may take place in Ocean View, but it was interesting to hear about it first hand.  Arthur also made the comment that he felt it was ridiculous that people say they don’t have money to do things, but then they’re able to pay for and drink a hefty amount of alcohol.  I guess that’s just a typical conflict of priorities.

I could definitely sense the emphasis on drinking during the weekend.  In no way did I ever feel uncomfortable, but Arthur, Debbie, and Grant were always very generous with the alcohol they were giving us and you could tell they were happy when we accepted the drinks we were given.  While they recognize that alcoholism is a problem in the colored community where they live, it is also part of the culture there and trickles into every day life.

Grant was very interesting when it came to alcohol.  He was very interested in telling us his story: he was a former gangster who had gotten caught up in drugs and moved to Ocean View to start over.  He said that he happily gave up is former life, but he just couldn’t give up the drinking.  Throughout Saturday night he definitely drank a fair amount.  He was never visibly drunk (or enough for me to tell), however, it was just fascinating to see how alcohol played into his life.  It was actually pretty funny though because him and Arthur kept saying they wanted to teach Caroline and I how to “drink like the coloreds.”  I think we may have a bit of work to do.

We spent the night talking, eating, and relaxing.  We had a great dinner – chicken, sausage, beef, beans, potato salad, vegetables, corn – the list goes on.  As Debbie, Arthur, Caroline, and I talked, I realized I had no idea how drastic the differences are between the blacks and the coloreds.  They are 100% two different cultures! 

First, just to start with the names.  My host parents were named Debbie and Arthur.  These names are definitely one’s I’ve heard before and are recognizable, as were the names of others living in this same colored community.  Black names, however, can tend to be very different from names we’d hear in the US.  Some that I can think of off the top of my head are Zimasa or Mfana.  Many South Africans who come from the Xhosa descent even have clicks in their name such as Xolisiwe.  Where the “x” is, there is a click sound that you make with your tongue.  It’s really difficult to do and I’m in a group project with someone who has a click in his name so I’m making it my life goal to figure out how to say it right before I leave.  But even beyond names, the culture in black and colored societies is totally different.  They have different political, social, and cultural views.  Arthur explained how blacks rely strongly on the government and expect the government to provide more for them.  He described them as feeling “entitled.”  In comparison to the coloreds, Arthur said that the colored community works hard and does not expect to be provided for.  Even the way the houses are built is different.  In a colored community, houses are a bit more spread out.  Black townships tend to have houses right on top of one another so the physical makeup of a community is highly populated and dense.

Politically, the blacks typically support the ANC whereas the coloreds tend to support the DA.  He talked about how the black culture greatly affects politics as well.  Arthur said that blacks tend to have significantly more children than coloreds.  He used an example of a black family having eight children to provide for although they may not have the money to do so.  In comparison to what I experienced, him and Debbie only have two children so this is much different.  As a result of the huge black population, the ANC tends to get the majority vote in the country.  Arthur clearly was not a strong supporter of the ANC (although he really just didn’t support the corruption of politics in general).  He gave us one example of how the ANC protects blacks in ways that he believes puts South Africa in danger.  For example, the ANC got rid of the death penalty here, Arthur claims, because ANC supporters (typically blacks) are the ones who are most likely to be convicted.  Arthur told us how he really does not like the current president, Jacob Zuma, and was very adamant in believing that politics won’t solve any problems until members of every race can sit down at a table and work together to make progress.

It’s an interesting perspective he gave and while I know a lot of what he said was a stereotype and generalization that could even be considered racist, there is always some amount of truth to such stereotypes in order for them to be created in the first place.  Although I’m trying my best to understand things here, I don’t think I’ll ever be informed enough to make my own opinions about these things because it’s too hard to know without living here.

We also talked about our decision to come to Ocean View for the weekend and I was really surprised at Arthur and Debbie’s point of view.  Initially I felt semi uncomfortable with the whole situation.  It felt as if this group of 70 relatively well-off Americans were coming into a township to see “how those who aren’t as fortunate” live.  It almost seemed like a zoo.  Here are these other people that we don’t know and they live soooo differently from us that we get to observe their ways.  When would these people ever come to the US and do a homestay in Beverly Hills?  Never...  I really just couldn’t wrap my head around this concept because it seemed so strange and voyeuristic, for lack of a better word. 

In fact, the whole experience was totally different from this.  When I asked my host parents if it was strange having American students in their home for a weekend, they said they were so happy about it.  They told us how this is the “real South Africa” because this is how the majority of South Africans lived.  They also explained how this was an exchange.  Although they were hosting us, we were also teaching them new things about the US and our culture.  It was a really interesting perspective and I felt a lot better and more comfortable after thinking about it from their perspective.

Sunday was a relaxing day.  Arthur and Debbie insisted that Caroline and I sleep in while they went to church.  Caroline was feeling a bit sick so they wanted her to get sleep.  I was a little bit bummed we didn't go to church because I was interested in seeing what it was like, but it was nice to be able to rest and have a relaxing morning.  After we got up, we walked down to an area called the Farm that had little shops and tourist attractions such as camel riding.  Debbie said she mostly only came there when she had exchange students in town.  After this, we came back for lunch.  Debbie had cooked a really tasty Indian dish (I forget the name) with rice and chicken.  I've been eating so much Indian food here and I'm really liking it!  We then spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing before it was time to head to the bus and go back to UCT.

I really could go on for days about this trip and we talked about so much more than I could ever discuss in one single blog post, but for now I’m going to end this post in order to move on to the next!

Here's a picture of my family:

I hope things are going well at home/in DC/wherever you may be that you're reading this!  Until next time :) 

A quick disclaimer

Hi!

I just wanted to write a quick something just so you know what's going on.  I promise I haven't forgotten about my blog at all!  In fact, I have about 4 or 5 posts that I'm halfway through writing, but I'm not just ready to post.  Things have been so hectic the past few days/week.  Not stressful hectic, just keeping me very busy.  I have a history paper due this Wednesday (which is eating away my time) so I probably won't be able to post until after it's turned it, but I promise (underlined that for emphasis) I'll post before I leave for Botswana and Zimbabwe this Friday!!

To throw you a few bones, my upcoming posts are about:

-My homestay in Ocean View
-The CIEE Living and Learning class/my cultural partner/my expectations/etc.
-Last weekend's tea party, shopping adventure, and Robben Island
-This weekend's food exploration, Cape Town Carnival, and discovery of the coolest and most beautiful restaurant/bar ever
-All the cool words I'm learning and the overall lingo down here.

In other news, I started taking my malaria pills last Saturday for my upcoming spring break trip - WOOHOO!  So that's fun.

Fun fact: apparently the library doesn't open until 8 am here.  That's weird. Whatever happened to 24 hour library service?

Oh and PS - I saw Mitch last weekend!!  (For those of you who don't know her because you don't go to GW, she's a friend from my sorority who I went to that leadership camp with last summer).

Ok, I've got to return to Jagger Library aka the most beautiful, quiet library ever so I can continue my essay about the social, racial, and class-oriented hierarchy that existed in 18th century Cape Town.  I promise you'll hear from me soon! :)

Powder and Picnicking

This was an AMAZING weekend.  Seriously the most fun I've had in a long, long time!  It was a nice combination of crazy and relaxing - naturally it's easy to get the best of both worlds in Cape Town.

The weekend started on Friday night when Ali, Jesse, Hannah, and I ventured to Green Point for some "Mexican" food.  Although I'm loving every minute of my time here, I've found this city's biggest downfall - THERE IS NO REAL (or even Chipotle-esque) MEXICAN FOOD.  This poses a huge threat to the rest of my time here.  Yes, DC is lacking in the authentic Mexican food category, but at least I can go to Chipotle or Lauriol Plaza when times get rough!  Hey, I even spent a fair amount of time at Baja Fresh last semester.  When Mexican food calls, Mexican food calls.

Side note: Hannah and I attempted to make tacos earlier in the week only to learn the following things do no exist here:

-Cholula
-Cilantro
-Black or refried beans
-Corn tortillas
-Tortilla chips
-REAL salsa (none of that questionable chipotle/watery/debatably marinara sauce flavored stuff)
-Pico de Gallo
-Legitimate guacamole (at least this can be made.... minus the cilantro)

This posed a serious dilemma to both of us since we are California born and raised.  We wanted to make tacos for two of our South African friends and we were forced to make makeshift tacos!  Such a bummer.  Also, the grocery store only sold one brand and type of tortilla.  And each package of 8 cost R50!  Ugh.  Talk about struggles.  Needless to say, our makeshift tacos turned out pretty well (especially for the lack of resources) and our South African friends seemed to enjoy them a lot (or they just pretended and ate a lot).  The sad part was this was one of the guys' first taco experience!  We were so sad it wasn't more authentic, but the good thing is he didn't know what he was missing.

Ok back to the real story - the quest for Mexican food on Friday.  We'd heard this place called El Burro was supposed to be good, so we made a reservation there for dinner!  I must say it was the best Mexican food (or only?) I've found here so far.  I wouldn't say it's authentic at all, but it tasted good so I'll take it.  There are still 2 other potential Mexican restaurants here (Pancho's and Fat Cactus - not promising names) so we'll have to see what else awaits.

It was a relaxing Friday and we just chilled after dinner - much needed in preparation for the busy weekend!

So Saturday morning came and although I had super ambitious plans to go to the gym and grocery shop, I did none of those and just hung out instead.  At about 1pm we started getting ready for Holi Festival.  It's a very strange thing to explain.  The festival originated as a Hindu tradition that celebrates the arrival of spring.  You're supposed to throw colored powder in the air and just be happy I guess.  Some brilliant business person must have decided somewhere along the way that this would be a great way to make money.  So it's been turned into a music festival where colored powder is thrown into the air every hour.  It's pretty awesome.  Not to mention that this was all taking place literally right beneath Table Mountain.  Quite surreal.

There was a different DJ every hour and the music was really good!  It was a bit hectic when the powder was thrown.  It was as if you're in a sand storm in the desert (so I'd imagine) and it made it really hard to breathe.  But it was also a really exciting burst of color/excitement/festivity!

Now just imagine that if you're looking at the stage and you turn to the right, that's Table Mountain.  SO COOL!  We frolicked around all day.  We got there at 3 and didn't leave until about 9.  I'd say it was a successful day of colorful fun!  Hannah and I also left to get dinner at Eastern Food Bazaar, which was right down the street.  We got some type of Indian chicken and rice dish and it was tasty.  I've been eating a lot of Indian food here and I'm really enjoying it!

Sunday was just as fun, but in a totally different way.  We went to a concert at a really beautiful venue called Kirstenbosch.  It's an outdoor garden with a stage about 10 minutes from campus.  Here we heard a band/DJ/I don't even know what they were called Goldfish.  They were so good!!!  From what I gathered, it's 2 guys.  One is a DJ who plays the keyboard and the other is also a DJ who plays the saxophone.  They have a few random singers that will join in for one or two songs, but other than that it's them.  If you can imagine a mix of jazz and techno and house music, then you kind of can understand what it was like.  Here's a youtube link to my favorite of their songs!  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EzG_xma-zc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cjwoit91SxU

Also, here's a picture of the venue.  It doesn't do it justice.  If I can find a better picture I'll add it in later for sure!

We got there early and had a fabulous picnic.  It was so tasty!  We brought fruit, crackers, pasta salad, chocolate covered raisins, hummus and veggies - basically the works.  It was such a relaxing way to spend a Sunday afternoon and the best part was that we were back early enough that I've been able to finish my homework tonight!

In other news: my marketing class is the ultimate struggle.  It's all about the South African market and South African products and consumers.  How am I supposed to know this!?  Well, I'm definitely learning a lot fast.  I just feel like I'm at such a disadvantage than all the other students.  Oh well.  I'm sure it'll be okay (or so I hope).  I'm currently working on a paper discussing three macro forces that impact the marketing environment in South African and what my recommendations to marketers would be regarding these environmental changes.... Not exactly my forte.

This week should be pretty fun!  Tomorrow is the UCT rugby game and this weekend I'm going to Robben Island with other CIEE students.  I've started the Cape Town Living and Learning class that's offered through CIEE and I'm really enjoying it.  I had to find a "cultural partner" who I can discuss many of the things we talk about in class with and ask questions.  My cultural partner is a student at a school near UCT.  He's the same age as me and has grown up in Kwazulu-Natal, a province on the eastern side of South Africa.  I'm not yet sure what types of things I'll be asking him, but excited to learn more!

Lastly, I promise I'm still going to post about the homestay last weekend!  It's just a really long post to be and I have many thoughts that I need to organize in my head before I can successfully write about it.  Ta ta for now!

Lessons in Communication

I mentioned before that I'm volunteering every Thursday to tutor at a township called Khayelitsha.  I volunteer through a UCT program called SHAWCO.  We are bussed to a learning center in the township where we teach a lesson in English and/or Life Skills for about an hour and a half with an 8th grade student.  My student is a 13 year old girl.   

I could not have asked for a better student - this girl is incredible.  She is motivated, smart, driven, and wise beyond her years.  She tells me how she stays in the classroom during lunch at school so she can read and study.  Like I said, very driven.  Apparently, the kids who go to this after school program are chosen by their teachers because they show the most promise as students in the class.

Within the first five minutes of talking to her, she was already telling me how she is working hard in school so she can attend a university and become a social worker.  She wants to help others living in her community.  I feel like I'm talking to a 50 year old when I'm talking to her.  She is incredibly introspective and deep thinking.  I feel like I could have a legitimate, adult conversation about "real life" issues with her for hours.  To be honest, I can't tell if that's a good thing that she's so mature or a bad thing that she has been forced to grow up way too young.

During the past two weeks, we've worked on punctuation marks, apostrophes, contractions, and comparisons.  Along with the English section, there is also a Life Skills component to the tutoring.  Yesterday's life skills lessons were on children's rights and gangsterism.  I can't begin to describe what I experienced while talking to her and it really frustrates me.  As part of the children's rights section, her and I switched off reading the UN list of rights for all children.  They were all pretty logical - children have rights to safety, security, free education, etc.  At the end of the lesson there were a list of questions to help spark conversation and reflection from the reading.  The first question was: "Have your rights ever been violated."  She responded by saying that yes hers had.  At the age of five, her uncle raped her.  She continued by saying that she knows this was wrong and in the future she will stand up for herself and not let something like this happen again.  She told me how she has a right to privacy and for her body not to be violated.  She followed this by saying she knows her uncle was drunk and "he didn't know what he was doing."  When I asked her what she meant by that, she told me that the Bible has told her to forgive him for he does not know that he has sinned.  She said she would never try to get revenge and because he is her elder, she still respects him.  I asked her if she has been able to forgive him and she said she has, but she will never forget what he did.

The whole situation/conversation really left me speechless, frustrated, and full of questions.   This was something I was in no way prepared for and did not know how to react to.  Because she had brought it up, I decided to ask my questions.  I've found that people here are very open about things that are considered "taboo topics" in the US - drugs, gangsterism, rape, etc.  She continued to talk and although I could tell this is an incident that has really scarred her and severely changed her life, I could also tell that it is something she wanted to talk about.

We talked for a while and she told me how she tells her friends that they have rights too.  It is something that she doesn’t want to happen to any of her friends. 

The afternoon ended with me being in a strange mood.  There were so many things that I wanted to talk about but I just didn’t know where or how.  First of all, I don’t understand how is it fair that this happened to her.  There’s no justification whatsoever and it just doesn’t make any sense.  It also frustrated me that she was saying how she still respects her uncle.  I don’t understand how that is possible.  It’s clear that she’s more mature than I am about this, but is it wrong to respect someone who’s done something like that to you?  Her composure and confidence blew my mind.  On the other hand, maybe it’s wrong of me to assume that she should disrespect her uncle.  I really don’t know. 

I contemplated whether or not this was something I wanted to include on my blog.  It bothered me a lot and I felt like I didn't want to subject anyone else to the frustration I experienced in hearing this.  I realized, however, that it would by an inaccurate representation of my abroad experience if I didn't include it.  Realistically, this blog can’t give a perfectly accurate representation of what I’m doing here because there is only so much I can write.  I’m trying to write as much as I can though so I hope it can be as “unbiased” as possible.   I also realized that it would be the more “American” approach if I did not include it.  Here’s why:

I’ve noticed while being here that in the US we have a habit of "sugar coating" things.  It's like this need to create who you are and what you've been through.  There are certain things that we are ashamed of or would never talk about to others – many of them not even to our closest friends.  But here I’ve been experiencing something completely different.  I've experienced what it is like to be somewhere where there is no limit to socially acceptable or unacceptable conversation topics and I'm beginning to think that we may have it wrong at home.

This past weekend while at the homestay, I talked with one of the family members who had gotten caught up in gangsterism in his past.  He was telling us (myself and the other American who stayed with me) about how he’s turned his life around and has changed.  He was so open about it – almost in a way that made me feel uncomfortable - and I asked him why it was that he just talked about it so openly.  His response was that the only way to change things is by acknowledging them and talking about them.  If you don’t talk about it, how is anyone to even know it is an issue?  It’s a pretty logical thought process and makes a lot of sense.  Granted, it’s not easy to do, but I do think that it must have more positive outcomes than saying nothing at all.

Although my time with SHAWCO yesterday really shook me, I am still excited to go back next week.  I enjoy working with my student (I don’t want to use her name for her own privacy) and she is really receptive to what we’ve gone over so far.  Whenever I teach her something new or correct a mistake, you can tell she is making a mental note so she does not do it again.   I also feel like I’m learning a lot from her and I really look forward to seeing her every week.  This was not the only conversation we had besides grammar – we also talked a lot about gangsterism in her community.  Yet another serious and uncomfortable topic.  My goal for her (academically) is to finish the 8^th grade book and move on to the 9^th grade book before this semester is over.  I also think I’m going to start bringing her extra homework in case she wants to review during the week.

First Week of Classes and Other New Things

I am officially well into my second week of classes and so far, so good!  I’m really happy with the classes I’m taking (although the timing of them is horrible).  I’m taking 4 classes through UCT and one class through CIEE.

Through UCT I’m taking South African History to 1900, Introduction to Geology, Introduction to Marketing, and African Dance.  Out of these four courses, three will transfer over as graduation requirements, which is very beneficial seeing as how I have little wiggle room if I want to graduate on time!  I'm also taking a class through CIEE that focuses on issues in South Africa and helps us get to understand the country better - this is right up my alley.

I have Geology Monday through Friday at 9am.  Not gonna lie, it’s a little rough.  I’m not a fan of science… at all… so I figured it would be good for me to take my last science requirement here so I don’t need to be bothered with any more science senior year.  Although the timing of the class is not ideal, I’m trying reeeeaaaaaaaaally hard to stay optimistic about it.  Perks – this class has a few field trips to cool areas in the Western Cape.  It’s also a fresher course so everyone in the class is really friendly because they all just started here.  I’m a fan of the fact that I won’t need to take anymore GW science courses.  Downfalls – timing of the class.  9am Monday through Friday is just unkind.  Also, the class is overbooked and at UCT when a class hits maximum occupancy, they don’t stop more students from signing up. So that means if you get there about 2 minutes before class starts (yes I just said before, not after), there’s a 95% chance you’ll be sitting on the floor.  It’s happened to me twice, but I’m starting to just embrace it.  The floor isn't so bad!  And yes - students get to class early - what a novel idea!  I normally consider 2 minutes before class starts to be early enough so this transition into getting to class 10 minutes before it starts isn't going very smoothly for my morning class.  

I actually got really lucky with my Marketing class though.  I was almost certain I wouldn’t get signed into it because it’s an upper level class that requires prerequisites that I haven’t taken yet.  Of the two prerequisites, one was also Microeconomics, which was basically the hardest class I’ve ever taken at GW (and it showed in my grades).  Chances of me getting in were low.  Somehow, the professor signed me in with little to no hesitation and GW said they’d accept it for one of my minor requirements!  Woohooo!!  Only 4 more business courses til I’m done with the minor!  The classes are really interesting so far.  It’s a little tricky because many of the brands we talk about are South African and I have no idea what they are.  I guess this is a different immersion that I didn’t think I would have.  If I had better internet I’d actually read a South African newspaper (if you know me well you probably know that I'm horribly about keeping up with the news), but seeing as how that’s not really an option, I guess I’ll just have to be really observant and pay attention to what’s going on around me to keep on top of the class.

We have a tutorial for this class (which is basically like a discussion section) once a week and I am the only undergraduate student.  Also the only American.  I am definitely intimidated by this.  But I figured since I am the odd one out, I might as well take advantage of this and add a different perspective to class discussions.  I’ve been trying to participate as much as possible, mostly because it’s out of my comfort zone and I figure it’s good for me.  We also have a group project for this class so it should be an interesting course overall.

The next class I’m taking is African Dance.  Lucky again, this class will transfer over to my Dance Minor (score).  To put it lightly, I AM OBSESSED WITH THIS CLASS.  It is actually awesome.  We have live drummers who come to class every day, which is neat because out of all the years I’ve danced I can maybe count the number of times I’ve danced to live music on my two hands (and that was a pianist for ballet so it’s not super exciting music seeing as how they all play basically the same songs).  African dance is very rhythmic – it has many similarities to tap dancing!  There is a lot of stomping, twisting of the upper body, and bent knees.  It’s good for me to practice being “grounded” when I dance because in most of the training I’ve had in the past, everything is always very elevated and lengthened.  I’m really enjoying the character of pretending to be a Zulu warrior hahahahaha (try to imagine me being a Zulu warrior and you will laugh at me too).  I feel super intense (although I’m pretty sure I just look like a small white girl trying to be intimidating which just makes me look stupid, but at least I feel cool?).  Our teacher mentioned that we might be able to participate in certain dance festivals in Cape Town or potentially do a flash mob (where you go to a public place and spontaneously start dancing in a big group).  I hope we can do these things!  This class also has an academic component where we’ll learn all about the history of African dance.  I’m really looking forward to this, as well!  I’ve been lucky enough to take some sort of dance history course for dance styles I’ve taken before and it’s a really interesting way to experience dance.

The other course I'm taking here is South African History to 1900.  At first I was a little bit bummed because I wanted to take more modern SA history.  After the class started though, I realized this is even better!  I'll be able to learn so much more from this class and apply it to what I already know about modern SA history.  The lecturer is incredibly dry.  He's really old school and uses an overhead projector and just talks at you from his brown, really old notebook (it actually looks like he's had this notebook for 60 years).  Luckily for me, I'm a huge history nerd so I somehow still find this class to be really fascinating.  I look forward to doing my readings for homework and I'm exciting for our discussion section.  We're currently discussion the Khoikhoi (who were the first people in South Africa) and their role with the European settlers.

Overall, I'm really excited about my classes.  Yes, I am very guilty of nerd-ism.  

In other news, this weekend I’ll be participating in a homestay in the Ocean View Township that we visited here during our UCT orientation.  If you follow my blog regularly, this is where I heard the youth trumpet band that I loved so much.  The homestay goes from Friday to Sunday.  I’m not sure what to expect – I also don’t want to have any expectations.  We briefly discussed some of the challenges this community faces today – alcohol abuse, teenage pregnancy, high school dropout, drugs (challenges that many cities face at home, as well) – so it will be interesting to see to what extent these things affect the community.  I’m excited to meet my homestay family.  Our CIEE coordinators said the family could be a married couple with children or a single mom.  It ranges.  I am interested to learn about the family and their culture and history while I’m there.  Ocean View (as I’ve said before) resulted from a coloured community in Simon’s Town being forcibly removed back in the 60s (if I remember the date correctly).  This is the township/community that formed as a result.  Many of the families here are Christian, but a handful of them are also Muslim.  No matter which type of family I get, it’ll be interesting and I’m sure it’ll be challenging to be out of my comfort zone and live in a way I normally don’t.  I think it’d be great to stay with a Christian family (mostly because I’d really want to go to church with them on Sunday!), but I also know I’d learn a lot from staying with a Muslim family.  Regardless, expect a blog post early next week about my homestay experience! 

Along with classes starting, tomorrow is the first day of my volunteering with SHAWCO!  I’ve signed up to go into the Khayelitsha township every Thursday from 2-5 so I can tutor 13-15 year olds in English and Life Skills.  My class schedule is all over the place (most days I have class from 9-4:45 and others I have class from 9-7pm or even 8) so I can only fit it in once a week.  If only I could have crammed all my classes into four days!  I’m a little bummed about this because I really wanted to get involved with tutoring while I’m here.  I feel so passionate about education and I really wanted to be able to make a connection with the kids I’ll be tutoring.  I was hoping I could at least go twice a week, but I guess I am here to go to school myself and there’s not much I can do about class conflicts.  I’m hoping that I’ll still be able to get a similar experience even if I’m going once a week.  I’m looking forward to my first day though.  Again, I’m not really sure what to expect so I’m a little nervous! 

There’s been a lot of commotion going on here regarding a gang rape that occurred last week in South Africa.  A young girl was gang raped and killed, one of the men was her ex-boyfriend.  South Africa has the highest incidences of rapes in the world, which would lead me to think that an incident like this would not create such a huge scene.  In fact, it's actually sparked a huge outrage from people across the country.  It's almost like a massive wake up call to everyone.  Suddenly there's a new focus on this culture of sexual violence and it's fascinating to be experiencing this from an outsider (semi-uninformed) perspective.  

Today there was a huge rally/protest at UCT and classes were cancelled so all students could participate.  (Unfortunately, I had a meeting for my homestay so I couldn't go).  Tons of people on campus have been wearing black and white t-shirts saying "We Say Enough" and there has been a decent amount of discussion regarding the incident.  It'll be interesting to see how this evolves.  Is it just a short buzz or could this actually be the start to changing the expectations regarding sexual violence in this country?  I'm really interested in learning more about this because not only do I think it is a serious problem, but I also feel like there is a lot about rape in South Africa that I don't understand.  For example, I was talking with a white local about it last week and he was saying that a lot of rapes occur for "religious" reasons.  In certain uneducated communities, "witch doctors" will basically tell men that the way to heal their sicknesses is to have sex with a virgin.  I had never realized there were reasons other than pure violence that caused the rape incidence to be so high here (that might just be me being naive), but according to my friend, a good majority of rapes occur for reasons such as these.  

On a lighter note, I have a new found love for muesli.  I actually am obsessed with it.  Their muesli is so good here!  My new favorite breakfast is combining muesli, plain yogurt, fruit (usually green grapes or pears), and oatmeal.  It's like heaven in a bowl.  I had two servings of my magical muesli creation for dessert yesterday even though I had it for breakfast earlier.  I know, I'm weird.  But it's so good!  On the less healthy side, I also have a new appreciation for beer?  Well, not beer all beer, just one brand.  I've found that I really enjoy Black Label, the most popular beer in South Africa.  Who would've guessed that one day I'd actually enjoy a beer?  Not me.

Well, I’m signing off for today.  I still have so much more to blog about so I’ll try to write again soon!  I've decided to compile all the lists of recommended places, things to do, etc. that my friends and I have been given into one GIANT colorful list.  So far I have 155 things to do/places to go before the end of the semester - there's so much to do here!  I’ve picked up a few sweet “South African” words to add to my repertoire and have successfully made a few local SA friends too (hoping to make many many more)!  I've been doing a lot of exploring (taking the train to the beach, going to Camps Bay - the "upper east side" of Cape Town, hiking up Lion's Head, and getting to experience the night life on Long Street), so I'll post again soon!

I promise I'm still alive!!!

Ay ay ay!  It’s been too long since I’ve posted!  Just so you know though, it wasn’t because I haven’t wanted to!  I haven’t had my laptop with me for the last week because I was traveling along the Garden Route with my friends and every time I sit down to write I realize I have about 599 things to say (which is why this post is so long).  But have no fear- you’re in for an exciting and long (shocker) post!!!

Before I begin my epic tale, I think I should state that I actually am a student here.  Classes don’t start until Monday (Feb 11) so it has basically been a 3-week vacation thus far.  I’m not complaining about that at all.  But don’t worry.  I’ll be in a classroom soon.

Well, I guess the best place to start is at the very beginning, so here we go!  This adventure began last Saturday morning.  I got up at 6 am because I’d failed to pack the day before.  Our plan (“our” refers to Ali, Hannah, Jesse, and I) was to meet at 8 and take a cab to the airport where we’d be picking up our rental car.  Our first stop was Swellendam, about two and a half hours away.  Here we were going to Up the Creek, a music festival IN A CREEK.  I shall repeat that for dramatic emphasis – a music festival IN A CREEK (explanation to come later).

We met to leave and I realized that I’d forgotten to print out the tickets for our first destination (oops).  Luckily, we found out the pharmacy prints things so we got that sorted out quickly.  It could have gotten pretty awkward if we had driven there with no tickets to get in with.  Anyhoo, after gathering our 2357207 belongings, we got into the cab on our way to the airport.  It would have been a lackluster cab ride if Hannah hadn’t gotten a bloody nose on the way, so thank goodness for that little bit of morning excitement!  Regardless, we arrived to our handy dandy white Nissan at Europcar looking like fools (see picture below)

but so excited to get this show on the road (literally).  The combination of luggage, food, beachie things (towels, bathing suits, floaties), and classy drinks in hand (aka boxed mojitos and wine) really made us look like a promising bunch.

Looking (and feeling) like a million bucks, we packed into the car that we quite literally would be living out of for the next week and headed out.  I was the first one to drive (not too surprising) and was both excited and a little nervous to drive on the other side of the road.  It took about an hour to get used to, but I’d say it went pretty smoothly!  It was strange getting used to the road rules here.  Cars tend to make their own lane on the shoulder and will drive there for miles (aka kilometers) to let cars behind them pass.  Passing is expected – If you think you’re going to go the whole way in front and behind the same cars, you are wrong.  Also, there’s a wide range of speeds.  I like to think of it as “create your own speed” (thinking that I should not have been using) because on the freeway one car will be going about 50 km/hr while the one behind it is going 135 km/hr.  In this particular situation it’s also very fishy because most likely there hasn’t been a speed sign for about 15 minutes so you actually have no idea what speed you should be going and the flow of traffic is basically create your own.

I’m not gonna lie – I was pretty proud of my driving abilities.  Agathe knows how much I love a driving challenge.  Well Ag, THIS WAS THE ULTIMATE DRIVING CHALLENGE AND YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN SO PROUD TO BE MY PASSENGER (I hope you read this Ag).  By the time we got to our destination, I had learned the ins and outs of how to pass cars on one-lane highways and how to let others pass me.  My biggest pride and joy though was picking up on the fact that when a car passes you, it’s common courtesy to flash your emergency lights as a “thank you” - and then actually doing it and thinking I was born to conquer South African roads.  Okay, a little cocky, I know.  But I just felt SO COOL navigating South Africa via rental car.  It’s the little things in life, right?

Enough of me getting excited about driving.  Back to the story.  So after about two hours of driving on the highway, our random/questionable directions told us to turn onto a dirt road in the middle of nowhere.  You’re probably thinking, “why were the directions so questionable?  Any sane person would just plug in the address to a GPS and it would know what to do!”  Well this logic is false.  Apparently, addresses here are not a thing.  So for about 70% of our destinations there was no address to plug into the GPS!  This seemed really annoying and strange at first, but then we realized that we were actually in the middle of nowhere.  Why would anyone even have an address there?  We learned to go by longitude and latitude coordinates though, so it all worked out. 

So after we had turned onto this long, virtually nameless dirt road in the middle of a desertish looking area where we were driving all by ourselves, a car came behind us extremely quickly and naturally passed me.  The speed on that road (yes, there was a speed sign at the beginning) was 80 km/hr, but I was going 60 and that still seemed excessive seeing as how we were bouncing around everywhere on this incredibly bumpy road.  So this car coming around us really fast was a tad bit alarming, but it was whatever.  It passed me and we continued on.

Within about 5 minutes of this, we turned a curve only to see this car that had sped past us about 5 minutes before completely overturned on the side of the road.  The front windshield was shattered in one piece a few yards from the car, a woman was lying on the side of the road about 5 yards from the car, and her friend (sister?) was frantically pacing next to her.

As the first ones to the scene, we were all pretty stunned.  It took a minute to register that this was legitimately a life or death situation.  Once we realized the severity of what was going on, it also took a minute to figure out what to do.  I mean, here we are in the middle of South Africa on a deserted dirt road knowing no one and coming across a woman who is screaming in pain on the ground.  It was against everything my dad has ever told me (aka getting out of the car in the middle of the road where we were all alone, talking to strangers, being in an overall vulnerable situation), but it was necessary for us to get out of the car so we could help.  Jesse called the equivalent of 911 and somehow they got an idea as to where we were.  (From this point on in the trip, I made mental notes along our drive so that if there was some type of emergency I knew how I could describe it.  Things are difficult when you can’t just throw out an address or landmark and you’re the only one on the road!).  The injured woman was still breathing and shortly more cars arrived and started helping shade her and calm her down until help came.  Her arm was clearly dislocated so everyone knew not to move her in case there were potential spinal injuries.  Meanwhile her sister/friend was being absolutely no help and was searching for her purse in the upside down car so she could “get her license” (unnecessary seeing as how you have no car to drive) but really so she could get her cigarettes.  Not an ideal situation.

It was a pretty traumatic situation, but it all worked out okay.  Once medical attention arrived (in the form of what looked like a river rafting safety guard), we decided to head out.  There wasn’t much we could do at that point and we knew she was in good hands.  We weren’t sure if they’d need to talk to the first witnesses, but we weren’t getting the vibes that that would be necessary.  Also there were very clear tire marks from where the car had slid off the road and if they looked into that (I sort of doubt they did), the tire marks in the dirt basically told the whole story.

After this unexpected delay, we were reluctant and a little bit shaken, but well on our way again.  It took us another 30 minutes or so, but we finally arrived at Up the Creek.  Just to paint the picture for you, we’d been driving in this HOT, dry, unexciting area for miles, had just witnessed a terrible car accident, and were quite thrown off guard by the lack of directions we were given to get to the festival.  Oh yeah, and there was absolutely no water in sight.  We were going to a festival at a creek!  How could there be no water?  A little bit disheveled and confused, we stumbled upon a gemstone.  In the middle of nowhere, we were suddenly surrounded by hundreds of cars and tents.  We pulled up to two tents where we were enthusiastically welcomed, given the show lineup, and our lovely hot pink wristbands proving that we were, in fact, at Up the Creek.  We got out of the car and met up with a friend who showed us the campsite where other CIEE students had already set up their tents. 

Things got even more unreal when we actually saw the creek.  The stage was literally IN THE CREEK and hundreds of people were laying on rafts, drinking, enjoying the sun, hanging out with friends, and enjoying the music.  IT WAS LITERALLY THE GREATEST THING IN THE WORLD.  It also was just such an ordeal to get there and was so unexpected that the amazingness of this concert was amplified to even higher levels.  I must say that floating on our rafts with our classy boxed mojitos in hand, while listening to live South African bands was quite possibly the greatest thing ever.  It’s one of those things that sounds great when you describe it and looks awesome in pictures, but you’ll never quite understand until you go.  I recommend that all of you come to South Africa if only to go to Up the Creek.

Here's a video so you can get an idea of what this festival is.  It's pretty ridiculous, but was such a great time.  (Side note: if there is bad language in this video, I apologize.  I watched it without sound.)

http://www.rollingstone.co.za/videosrev/item/2155-flashback-up-the-creek-2013

We basically spent the day in the creek, but eventually we moved back to our campsite and changed into warm, dry clothes.  At night, the venue changed to a stage on solid ground and had a little different vibe.  While the day was chill and quite literally “fun in the sun,” the night was cozy and relaxing with a lot of dujja going around (dujja meaning weed).   Since I don’t smoke (it’s more illegal in South Africa than it is back home) and my friends here don’t either, it was mostly just fun to enjoy the music, the relaxed vibe, and the overall environment. 

One of the musicians we heard was named Jeremy Loops.  I’m not too sure how to describe what he does, but I’ll try.  Basically he’s a one-man band.  He starts by playing some tune on his harmonica and presses a pedal with his foot that repeats that tune.  He layers on different instruments and different tunes until he has literally created his own song.  It was really cool to watch and we all really liked his music!  Seeing as how we had no cds in the car (my bad) and the radio was mostly static, Jesse decided to buy one of Jeremy Loops’ cds.  Only after he got it did we find out that it was 5 songs long, but we were still excited to have something to listen to.  Loops stuck around with us throughout the rest of our Garden Route trip and I’m guessing we listened to that cd 30+ times.  It was good about the first 5 times, then it was kind of a joke, kind of a savior from the static radio.  I think we secretly became Jeremy Loops’ biggest fans this trip – we found out he’s playing in Kirstenbosch Gardens (near Cape Town) and we have big plans to go to his concert at the beginning of March.

So after listening to quite a few different bands, we decided we were getting tired so it was time to go to sleep.  We had rented 2 two-man tents and a sleeping bag through a travel company out here (the company that was working with all the CIEE students).  When we had gotten there earlier, the guy who was in charge of setting things up said he’d set up our tent later in the day.  So we just went on with the day hoping that we’d have somewhere to sleep by night.  Once we decided to go back for the night, we could only find 1 two-man tent at our site that was open.  We didn’t really know what to do seeing as how there were 4 of us, but I decided I wasn’t into trying to fit 4 people into a 2-man tent.  So I said I’d sleep right outside the tent on a raft, while the other 3 struggled to fit into that tent.  They sort of got settled (with three pairs of feet sticking out the front of the tent) and I tried to fall asleep using my towel as a blanket.  This whole sleeping under the stars thing wasn’t as nice as it had always sounded seeing as how we were exhausted, bands were still playing (and continued literally until sunlight), and people were coming in and out of the campsite yelling and acting like it was 2 in the afternoon.  After awhile, one of the guys that had been hired by the travel company (he is a friend of the owners and they basically gave him and another guy free tickets to the festival if they’d go set up tents for everyone and do the work) was on the site so I went up to him asking if there were any more tents.  He pointed to one and said he had set up 2 for us.  I looked inside and it had a backpack, but nothing else.  So I claimed that territory asap and Jesse came over to my tent so we could potentially try to get some sleep through all the blaring music and noisy campers.  I successfully fit my raft into the tent to sleep on and continued to use my towel as a blanket.  I’d say it worked somewhat decently.  The night would not have been complete if I didn’t get sick (undecided if it was from using the portapotty water from the sink to brush my teeth or from something I ate) and have to crawl over Jesse and get out of the zipper maze two different times.  It’s been over a week and I’m still not 100%, but oh well.  After the ordeal of my sickness somewhat passing (aka I was writhing in nausea in the tent, but just wanting to sleep), we heard a knock on the tent and someone asking if there were people in his tent.  Uh oh….  After an awkward encounter of us realizing that was his backpack in the tent and him trying to fit in the tent, but all of us not fitting, he left to find somewhere else to sleep.  He was not happy at all.  (Also this wasn’t some random person.  It was another guy on this abroad program who we know.)  As we heard him complaining to his friend in the tent next to us later (his friend had a tent to himself so it’s not like he needed a tent to himself too, right?).  I really did feel bad about us tent-jacking, but in all honesty, I had to sleep somewhere!!  And I told him I would move anywhere if there was somewhere else.  I guess it just made more sense for him to share a tent with his best friend than it me to share a tent with his best friend.  Crisis averted, but he was not happy.

I potentially dozed off for about 3 hours.  Unclear.  We had no sense of time, all I know is the music was playing until sunrise.  Probably around 3am it started raining (luckily we had a cover over our tent) so it was getting pretty chilly.  When we officially got up the next morning, it was still raining and we realized we really had to get on the road to make it to our next stop in Oudtshoorn.  Jesse went over to Hannah and Ali’s tent only to realize they weren’t there.  Unclear of where they were, we started getting our things ready and packed so we could leave.  The tent they had been in was almost 100% collapsed and soaking wet, but we had no idea where else they could have gone.  Within about 10 minutes, Ali was peeking her head out of a big tent where one of the guys who was in charge had been staying.  The guys are our age (just locals) so it wasn’t totally random and strange.  Apparently, in the middle of the night Ali and Hannah had gotten so cold and wet (they didn’t have a cover from the rain), that they went to him and he said they could sleep in there.  It was hilarious seeing themselves all peek their head out from this tent though.  Mostly because the sleeping arrangements were overall such a joke that we were delirious and laughing at the ridiculousness of the night.  It was one of those things that you could either get really upset about or just laugh until it hurt.  We chose the second option.

We gathered up our belongings, got some breakfast (while listening to more live music) and headed out.  It was time to get to our next destination in Oudtshoorn where we were hoping to ride ostriches and go on a tour of the Cango Caves.  It was a 3-hour drive and I was driving in the pouring rain.  Not ideal.  After the GPS tried to take us the wrong way, we were able to find our way and make it to Outdshoorn in one piece.  Ali drove the second half of the way and we arrived at the ostrich farm (after Jesse had secretly tried to get us killed by taking us to some privately owned ostrich farm instead of a real tourist location).  Unfortunately, because of the rain we couldn’t ride or feed the ostriches L  It was sad.  We decided that since we couldn’t feed or ride the ostriches, we’d have to go somewhere for dinner that served ostrich.  Anything to touch an ostrich.

We got lunch at some random place that had camel rides (which we didn’t do because of the rain) then left for our cave tour at 3:30.  The cave tour was at the Cango Caves up in the hills.  Of all 15 people in our tour group, we ran into 4 friends from CIEE, which was both unexpected and fun.  We signed up for the “adventure tour” aka the fit into small crevices and crawl through awkwardly shaped openings tour.  I was a tad bit concerned I’d get claustrophobic, but I was totally fine and it was a lot of fun!!

I should also mention that I spent the first 3 days of this trip thinking that I’d lost my camera so I was relying heavily on Ali and Jesse.  Luckily it was right were I had put it – inside a sock in my bag.  I kept hiding things so nothing would get stolen, but I hid them so well that I couldn’t find them when I wanted them!  It was an ongoing problem throughout the trip.

After our cave tour, we stayed in a nice hostel that night called Backpacker’s Paradise and got a room to ourselves, woohoo!!  We had a SUPER YUMMY dinner at a restaurant on the main road (can’t remember the name, but it started with a “k” and was really swanky).  The caviar pancakes were recommended so we tried those.  I guess if you’re into crepes with salty eggs that pop in your mouth when you eat them then this dish is for you.  Apparently I don’t think I’m into that though.  We also really enjoyed our ostrich-kabobs.  A must the next time you’re in Outdshoorn for dinner.  9pm seemed like it was 2 in the morning so we quickly made our way to bed.  We were getting up at 6am for the next day’s adventure anyway!

Ok.  At this point in my story, I realize that you all probably are getting tired of reading so much and the other 50% of people reading this have given up and resorted to wasting time on Facebook.  So for the strong who are powering through this tale, I hope it’s somewhat enjoyable.  To everyone else who read the first paragraph then called it a day, you’re probably not reading this anyway.  I’ve had to write this post in many different sections because it is SO LONG.  I feel like quite the novelist right now.  (Deep breath).  Alrighty, back to the story.

So we got up bright and early the next morning because we had 11am appointments at the highest bungee jump in the world.  When I say we, I mean everyone else besides me.  You’re probably thinking “wow, Colette.  You’re so lame.  How could you go with them and not jump?  Do you regret it?  Didn’t you miss out? YOLO!  Wimp” or something to that extent.  Well to be honest, nope.  I don’t regret it at all.  I don’t like free-falling.  It’s just not my thing.  And I’m not really an adrenaline seeker.  So I was totally fine taking pictures, watching (they have a tv set up to watch it live up close), and taking selfies (see picture below).

After they’d all succeeded, I thought it was only fair if I got my own adrenaline rush.  I figured the best way to do this would be to go 93 km/hr instead of 80 km/hr and get pulled over to get a speeding ticket!

I think everyone else felt really left out in my fun.  Also, my first ticket ever – in South Africa!  What could be better?  Now I really feel like a local!  There is no better way to immerse yourself in a country than to get in trouble by law enforcement.  Thank goodness I accepted this challenge!  In all honesty though, it was a pretty funny incident.  I’m not making an excuse here – just an explanation.  In general, the speed is really inconsistent.  At home you usually can guess the speed based on where you’re driving.  Aka a freeway vs. neighborhood vs. street with stoplights.  That consistency isn’t a thing here.  One minute the speed would be 120 km/hr and the next it’d be 80 km/hr on the same road for no apparent reason (that I could figure out).  I wasn’t using the whole create your own speed mentality at this point either, so it really was just unfortunate timing.  I really was trying to watch the speed, but I guess I wasn’t watching close enough.  Well, I will now suffer the consequences aka a R200 fee, which is about the same as $27.  Lesson learned – go the speed limit.  Once again, I could have laughed or cried.  I prefer laughing so that became the joke of the trip.  They still let me continue driving seemingly without hesitation.  Maybe they just wanted to laugh when I got another?  Who knows.

After my own personal adrenaline rush that wasn’t a jump off of Bloukran’s Bridge, we arrived in Plettenberg Bay where we went to The Table to get some awesome pizza.  Plett bay is beautiful!  It reminds me a lot of Laguna Beach.  There are lots of cute shops by the water and there is a fun, lively and energetic vibe.  We shopped around for a bit, then made it to our next stop – Plettenberg Game Reserve.  Once again, we got lost and ended up in the middle of a residential community very confused as to where we’d be seeing live animals here.  Somehow we found the reserve.  It was yet again in the middle of nowhere.  Another reminder as to why addresses are a lost cause for these places.  After driving down another dirty, bumpy road, we came across a gate.  We went in only to be driving alongside a whole zoo of animals!  But not a zoo.  They were actually living on the grass we were driving next to – zebras, springbok, ostriches, etc.  No fences between our car and theirs and they were only yards away.  Very surreal.  We were following signs that said “reception” and alas!  We found this mysterious reception in the middle of nowhere.  Here we hopped into an Indiana Jones style vehicle (with no seatbelts because it’s more fun with more risk) to begin this real life Disneyland ride in a real life zoo with no cages.  Safety first!

It was really neat.  We saw tons of zebras, springbok, bontebok, buffalo, and ostriches.  We also saw giraffes, lions, hippos, rhinos, and alligators.  We had a guide that told us all about them as we went.  They also gave us some super warm blankets that we could snuggle with during the ride because it got a bit windy.  My favorite parts were seeing the lions up close and seeing the baby zebras!  The youngest zebra we saw was 2 weeks old.  As Ali said, we’d been in Africa longer than it had been in the world!  I was into it.  Also decided that if I ever live in zebra friendly territory, I will buy a pet zebra.

By the time our tour had ended, we were ready for dinner.  Hannah was the travel guide aka she’d read us all the recommended restaurants in our travel books and we’d go from there.  We decided on a place called The Lookout, which had seafood and was on the water.  It was a really good choice!  We got some tasty pina coladas and shrimp as we sat on the beach deck overlooking the water.

Unfortunately, by the time we were done, it was dark and we still had to find our hostel for the night.  It was about a 30 minute drive down a one-lane highway with no lights.  Then we turned off onto another dirt road in the middle of nowhere again.  Ugh.  Why.  It was actually pretty scary.  We kept the doors locked (duh), but it was a little unnerving having to figure out where we were going in pitch dark.  Our goal the whole trip had been not to drive at night and we thought that it would have been better to eat then drive back because had we gone to the hostel first, we would have been driving to and from dinner in the dark.  There wasn’t much we could do about it so we went with it.

Somehow, we found our destination – The Wild Spirit Hostel.  As you can probably infer from this name, it was the coolest hippie location known to man.  I’ll include some pictures below so you can get an idea, but basically we were in heaven and didn’t want to leave.  We hung out by the fire with some other CIEE friends and also made friends with some South Africans and British people. 

The next morning we decided to get some casual exercise in.  And by casual exercise, I mean we walked a cheetah.  On a leash.  It would have been boring if we didn’t get lost again, so we thought we’d check out someone’s residential farm on the way.  Good thing we locked our doors too because we had an awkward run in with someone who tried to get into our car?  It was strange.  But it was okay (clearly we’re still alive and thriving) because, as I said, the doors were locked and I was driving so I just drove away really quickly.  Back to the cheetah walk.

It was hilarious and super cool!  The best part was basically that we were getting walked by the cheetahs.  If the cheetah wanted to run, we had to let go of the leash.  It is probably the only time in my life I’ll hear anyone say “Cheetah coming through!”  in complete seriousness.  Our cheetah was named Duma and the other cheetah being walked was named Zeus.  Duma is about 6 years old and so cute!  I’d say we had a pretty successful morning.

After our morning stroll, we headed back to Wild Spirit where we had a nice breakfast and then went on a short little hike to a creek/waterfall.  The water was freezing, but it was beautiful!  Here’s a picture of Hannah the mermaid enjoying the waterfall.

As much as we wanted to stay in Nature’s Valley where our lovely hostel was, we decided to press on to Jeffrey’s Bay.  This little beachie town reminds me a lot of a much smaller Huntington Beach.  There were tons of surf shops of brands we have at home (RVCA, Billabong, Roxy, Ripcurl, etc.), which was pretty cool.  One of the stores had a great sale – virtually buy 1 of anything and get another free.  I stupidly only brought 1 bathing suit here so this seemed like a good opportunity to get a bathing suit and free pair (R1) of shorts.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing/napping on the beach, which was really nice.  Our hostel was really neat.  It was right on the water!  Also, it was a fun place to be because a tour group of about 40 CIEE students just so happened to be staying there that night.  After dinner, we all ended up buying drinks and hanging out/being ridiculous.  It was a fun night!  Also was nice to just hang out because we'd been so busy!  

We were really excited to sleep in the next morning since we’d been on the go since Saturday.  After a relaxing morning and a super tasty breakfast in town, we headed out to a creek/waterfall/zipline.  I’d say this was my favorite part of this whole trip.  Although it was super simple, it was unexpected and incredibly fun and relaxing.  We weren’t here for too long, but long enough to enjoy ourselves for sure.

Once again, it was time to pack up and head to our next and final destination in Knysna.  We had talked about going to an elephant park the whole trip, but weren’t sure if it would fit into our schedule.  We figured we’d head over there once we got to Knysna for the off chance that they would have a tour open for 4 of us.  Luck was on our side and we got in right in time to join the 4pm elephant tour.

We were able to feed, touch, and walk with the elephants.  It was very up close and personal.  Last time I was here, I rode an elephant with my family, but this experience was a lot different from the last.  It was really nice just being able to tag along with the elephants instead of them taking us on an actual tour.  They are the sweetest animals!  Marley, I thought about you the whole time.

Our trip was quickly coming to an end.  We headed down to the water for a nice dinner.  I thought it seemed like a good place to try an oyster, but I was wrong.  Mostly because I learned that no place is a good place to try an oyster seeing as how I apparently really don’t like oysters.  At least I can say I tried it.  The fact that people actually enjoy eating those baffles me.

We stayed in another Island Vibe where, once again, our favorite guys were also staying.  (This was the 3^rd time we had ran into them without planning during our trip).  It was really sad that this was our last night!  The trip had been too fun and there were still so many things we wanted to do.  Also none of us were really prepared for classes to be starting on Monday.  This whole “fake life” where you can hang out all day and travel and do what you want when you want is wayyyy too much fun.

Before the long drive home the next morning, we had a great breakfast at Mon Petit Pain and shopped around at some really cute stores.  I got SO MUCH pinspiration (for those of you who don’t know what that is, I’m referring to Pinterest which is a website where you can post really pretty pictures) for my future home.  It’s never too early to start designing where you want to live right?  We also wanted to go to the beach one last time before heading back, but got semi-lost trying to find it.  Somehow, we managed to find our own private beach and enjoy the relaxing morning.

We had one final stop before our long trek back to Cape Town – we were stopping to see Neels and Ronell in George!  Our GPS pulled through (thankfully because if not we would have been frighteningly lost) and we arrived at their home on the golf course in Fancourt.  It was great spending some time with them and they are so welcoming and thoughtful!  I’m sure I’ll be seeing them again before this semester is over.  Ronell has kindly introduced me to a neighbor of hers who goes to UCT, so I’m really looking forward to getting to know her, too!  PS: Gigi and Papa if you’re reading this, Neels and Ronell really miss you and want you to come stay with them!

After a lovely afternoon and some tasty Rooibos tea, we headed back to Cape Town.  About 6 hours later, we arrived at the rental car drop off with 45 minutes to spare.  We managed to do a TON, stay safe, not get in too much trouble, have fun, and really get the experience of learning about South Africa on our own.  We all were really proud of the fact that we navigated on our own and made the trip what we wanted of it.  There was a lot of learning involved, but I’d do it again in a heartbeat!  We still have so many places we want to go, so I’m sure this won’t be the last time we travel around the country. As for now, I have started classes.  Today was the first day and although I feel like the biggest fresher (freshman) of all time, it’s been really exciting.  I’m trying to get all my courses pre-approved by GW for now, so that’s a whole different project.  Currently I’m signed up for Intro to Earth/Geology, African Dance, South African History to 1900, a seminar on living and learning in Cape Town, and Intro to Marketing.  As long as GW approves these courses I’ll be taking these for the rest of the semester!  I will admit I’m a dork/nerd so I’m looking forward to these classes a lot.  Also, I really don’t like science, but this Geology class sounds like it has some neat field trips!  Alrighty, well that’s all for today.  If you read the whole thing, thanks for keeping up with my travels!